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'Out-Sputniking' the Soviets

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Navy one-upped the Soviet Union after the launch of Sputnik 1—the first artificial satellite in history—by doing the "impossible": sending the submarine USS Nautilus from the Pacific to the Atlantic over the North Pole.

The signs were ominous as the Nautilus (SSN-571) edged north in search of a route into the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific. The nuclear-powered submarine's upwardly scanning fathometer detected ice stabbing 30 feet into the depths of the shallow Chukchi Sea between Alaska and Siberia. Through the periscope, Navy Commander William R. Anderson could make out an undulating roof of solid ice, cloudlike and menacing, as the Nautilus slid by in the gray current. The skipper ordered the boat down to 140 feet to avoid collision.

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Carl LaVO is the author of Slade Cutter and Back from the Deep. He has written many articles for Proceedings and Naval History, and a variety of general-interest periodicals. He has also appeared on the History Channel and lives in Bucks County, PA.

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